PSHSB PROVIDES PERSPECTIVE ON BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS 911 DISPATCHER CLASSIFICATION. The Bureau Chief provides perspective on the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational classification for 911 dispatchers/ public safety telecommunicators. Action by: Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau by LETTER. PSHSB https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-343102A1.pdf
Month: January 2017
Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, January 19, 2017
Will the New Administration’s Axe Impact FirstNet?
The latest news from the new administration’s transition team is that they plan to start chopping jobs within the federal government, reassigning functions to other departments, and making all sorts of other changes to save what they claim will be $10 Trillion (with a T) over the next ten years. One of the departments called out by name is the Department of Commerce (DOC), home to the NTIA, which oversees FirstNet.
FirstNet’s funds do not impact the federal deficit since they were part of the proceeds of a recent spectrum auction, and most of the construction and operational funds will be contributed by the RFP Partner. Therefore, one would think that perhaps there will be no impact on FirstNet and thus the timing of the network and the work being done on behalf of FirstNet’s customers, the Public Safety community.
Perhaps such a move might bode well for FirstNet and can be the catalyst that moves it into an even more “independent authority” mode Congress seemed intent on creating. That would be a very good thing that could speed up the process and move this along even faster. So, I like to think these changes promised in the new administration’s first 100 days will be a positive move for FirstNet. Continue reading
FirstNet Weekly Update to the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) – January 17, 2017
FirstNet News
- Last week, representatives from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) visited the FirstNet Chief Technology Office (CTO) in Boulder, CO to tour the FirstNet Innovation & Test Lab and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) Lab. ISED also met with the FirstNet Applications, Devices, and Network Operations teams, and provided background on Canadian public safety broadband network efforts. CTO staff engaged in a robust discussion to better understand the Canadian effort, and presented on the progress of the FirstNet network and the Early Builders Projects.
- FirstNet also attended the Arizona Public Safety Radio System Administrators Forum in Phoenix last Tuesday. Attendees expressed interest in working with FirstNet to promote seamless public safety communications capabilities throughout the state.
AT&T Reports 700 MHz Interoperability Progress
January 13, 2017–In its latest progress report on 700 megahertz band interoperability, AT&T, Inc., has told the FCC that “there is near universal availability of Band 12 devices for smaller carriers and a plethora of new devices that have been introduced. In addition, carriers have continued to roll-out Voice over LTE service on 700MHz A-Block Spectrum.” The filing in WT docket 12-69 said that as of Jan. 10, “over 93% of the devices that operate on AT&T’s Lower 700MHz bands are Band 12 capable exceeding the requirement for the second year of the device roll-out period.” AT&T also said it “is supporting roaming on LTE Networks with a compatible 3G Networks and plans to expand this roaming into 2017. In addition, we plan to enable VoLTE Roaming for carriers with an incompatible 3G Network during the 2nd half of 2017.”
Courtesy TRDaily
Circulating at FCC
January 13, 2017–The draft 12th report from the FCC to Congress on broadband progress — also known as a 706 report, after the section of the 1996 Telecommunications Act that mandated reporting on “whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion” — began circulating among the Commissioners’ offices on Jan. 9.
Courtesy TRDaily
FCC Grants WEA Waiver for Test
January 13, 2017–The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau granted a waiver in PS docket 15-91 today of the agency’s wireless emergency alert (WEA) rules to enable a WEA test on the National Mall on Jan. 15 in advance of the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Courtesy TRDaily
Eight States, Puerto Rico Divert 911 Fees for Other Purposes
January 13, 2017–Eight states and Puerto Rico diverted 911 or enhanced 911 (E911) fees for other purposes during 2015, according to a report released today by the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. The eighth such annual report to Congress said that nearly $220.3 million in fees were diverted for other purposes, or about 8.4% of the total in fees collected by all states and territories but 34.3% of the funds collected by the diverting states and territory.
“Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Washington, and West Virginia used a portion of their 911/E911 funds to support non-911 related public safety programs,” according to the 117-page report. “Illinois, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico used a portion of their 911/E911 funds for either non-public safety or unspecified uses.”
The percentages of funds diverted ranged from 2.2% by Puerto Rico to 89.9% by New Jersey, according to the report. Some of the states that divert 911 fees for other purposes are repeat offenders. For example, New York, Illinois, and Rhode Island are listed as having done so in each of the eight Public Safety Bureau reports, while Arizona, Georgia, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, New Hampshire, Washington state, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Puerto Rico have been listed at least twice. Continue reading
House Committees Pledge Cooperation on DHS Reauthorization Legislation
January 12, 2017–The chairs of eight House committees with jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security have signed a memorandum stating that they will cooperate on legislation to reauthorize DHS.
The agreement among the committee chairs was announced today by Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Rep. McCaul said last week (TRDaily, Jan. 5) that he had reached a memorandum of understanding with other committee chairs to help speed reauthorization legislation, and that he was “very optimistic that we will see that legislation . . . one of the first coming out of my committee.”
Central to Rep. McCaul’s push for DHS reauthorization is his oft-stated goal of transforming the agency’s National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) into an operational unit devoted to the protection of critical infrastructure, to be called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency within DHS. DHS Secretary has Jeh Johnson has voiced support for such a move. Continue reading
ARRL Seeks WRC-15 Implementation
January 12, 2017–The American Radio Relay League has filed a petition for rulemaking asking the FCC to adopt rules “to implement domestically that portion of the Final Acts of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (‘WRC-15’) that provided for the international allocation of the band 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz to the Amateur Radio Service on a secondary basis.”
Courtesy TRDaily
Comments Sought on License Transfer
January 12, 2017–Petitions to deny are due Feb. 1, oppositions Feb. 8, and replies Feb. 15 in WT docket 16-387 on the transfer of a lower 700-megahertz band C-block license covering part of a market in Texas from XIT Telecommunication & Technology Ltd. to AT&T, Inc. “Our preliminary review indicates that AT&T would be assigned 12 megahertz of Lower 700 MHz C Block spectrum covering nine counties that account for approximately 78 percent of the population in Texas 2 – Hansford. Post-transaction, AT&T would hold 145 megahertz of spectrum in total, including 55 megahertz of below-1-GHz spectrum, in these nine counties,” according to a public notice released by the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. As a result, the agency will use its “enhanced factor” review, which is employed when a transaction would result in a carrier holding more than one-third of available spectrum below 1 gigahertz in a market.
Courtesy TRDaily